News-Record.com

"...most of the district’s attention has been on bringing low-performing students up to grade level, Zhang said the highest-performing students ... aren’t doing as well as they should."

This is the first admission I've seen that part of the closing of the achievement gap is due to the underperformance of high achievers due to (by implication)lack of attention by GCS.

Were representatives from the High Point City Council invited to this? I see no mention of anyone from that city's leadership.

I wonder if Dr. Zhang has any data for academic performance as it reflects to listening to your teachers. For example if the young man that was so upset at the School Board meeting because his teacher was telling him to get in the classroom, would actually do that, well maybe he would learn something and that would close the academic performance gap as well.

Next I need the 11-Star General to weigh in on the following topic after he finishes his Veterans' Day celebration. If Dot Kearns is so concerned about the so-called socio-economic gap why were her young family members (nieces/nephews) diverted out of the Guilford County school system and into a neighboring county? I believe I have this right General, but if I have misspoke please correct me.

To the common man such as myself it sounds like another example of one set of rules for the dictator and another set of rules, well you know, FOR EVERYONE ELSE.

The High Point City Council was invited to this meeting, Buckmtn, but none of the members were in attendance.

Hey Bruce, didn't read anything in this article on the latest donkey show about HOW they were going to accomplish their goals. Was the meeting just bringing to the governing bodies' attention there is a "gap" or did they talk about the actual defiling to follow?

This is much too similar to the donkey show before the CP vote, when they went around to governing bodies before the "mock" public hearings took place and then the politicians got to watch while the donkey did SW.

Thank you Bruce.

Not the Mayor of High Point?? Not the newly elected Ward 6 representative??

Were they told the right time that the party was to start? Or told a later time?

Or right, Dot Kearns was there, no doubt in a dual role as BOE member and citizen of High Point.

Could somebody check the payrolls of the private schools in High Point to see if Terry or Dottie are actually receiving a kick-back for all the business they have given these schools?

Note to the private schools: Keep adding classrooms and we will keep filling them!

It seems that our community, leaders and all, look to the school system to solve problems that the community itself is not willing to tackle. People want neighborhood schools, and all that goes with that such as safe schools with the necessary resources, including excellent teachers and a variety of course and enrichment offerings. And every child deserves this. However, our neighborhoods are segregated so why are we surprised that our schools are as well? City planners should be designing more diverse neighborhoods that accommodate different forms and price ranges of housing. Obviously that's a tough nut to , but one that needs to be discussed.

We ask the school system to then solve this problem, so they end up making decisions not based on academics, but rather based on race. So why are we outraged when we don't achieve our academic goals and gaps exist? This then limits the options of the school board who come up with options like school choice plans that force people to do what they won't do otherwise. And then the school board gets blasted because people want it both ways. And it's a double whammy because we continue to take away from programs that target the higher achieving students in favor of racial diversity. And then we change the standards to ensure that there is racial diversity.

I think it's interesting that Dr. Zhang mentions that the issue is more one of socio-economics rather than race, but that's not the point that gets discussed. That's not sensational enough (although you'd think after Hurricane Katrina the issue of poverty is one to be seriously discussed). Everything in Greensboro gets turned into a race issue. I continue to think that when we can stop talking about labels of large groups of children (and people for that matter) rather than educating individual students, we will make many more strides in forwarding race relations.

And families have to take responsibility at the individual level as well. Every family and student has to take responsibility for their child's education and behavior. Is it fair for a child who comes to school every day ready and willing to learn be forced to deal with constant behavioral disruptions from students who are not? I'm tired of excuses...there are ways to behave in a school whether you behave that way outside of school or not. I don't care what color your skin is.

Every year the school sends home a list of things parents/families can do to help their child be successful in school. These include reading to your child at home, ensuring your child eats balanced and nutritional meals, helping your child to get enough rest. Love and caring is a given. The families that do this get penalized by the school system because we spend so many resources on the children who don't get this. This takes away from the resources available to the students who come ready to learn. This is not a socio-economic or racial issue...Non-processed foods cost less than processed ones. Whether you can buy the books new, get them used, or get them at the library, books are available to your children. By the time a 5-year-old child comes to kindergarten, a child who has been read to lets say only 300 days a year since he/she was born, will have heard/read 1500 books. Do you think that child will be more reading ready than a child who have never been read to?

Yes the system needs to be fixed and out leaders need to do more than listen to presentations and actually tyr to come up with solutions...but until each of looks at our own role in contributing to the problems, we'll get nowhere.

Not to beat the proverbial dead horse, but Buckmtn raises a good point. I was surprised that no members of the High Point City Council attended yesterday's meeting. They were invited and the meeting was held in the Adams Farm area, so it's not like they had a long drive.

Three members of the Greensboro City Council attended, along with three county commissioners, four school board members and the mayor of Summerfield.

First of all, I would like to thank my fellow soldiers who have given me the privilege to now wear a Twelfth Star.

Buckmtn,,,,Above, you raise the Question that many have asked before us....Dot is a True Blue Liberal Socialist on the same page with the Kennedy family......As far as I can tell, she believes that minorities are to stupid to advance in this world without her to guide them.

As she hunkers down in her Lily White Emerywood neighborhood and attends her Lily White Church,,,She continues to tell the rest of the world how they should live in order to accomplish Socio-economic and racial harmony......This does not seem like a task for a school board member, but she still is determined to attain her goal through the destruction of the Public School System......

You know,,,Dot,,, Mother Theresa was a Angel on Earth,,She went and lived in the Ghettos of Calcutta to accomplish her Goal of helping the Poor and Sick.....She did not drive in every morning from her Country Club home,,spend a few hours with those other people and then scram back to her side of town.

Dot, if you want to be that Angel on Earth,,You need to look in your MLS Book and find a Pad down off of Vail Street...Move in there and start living in the trenches and see how long your bleeding heart will last in the Real World!!!!!!!!

I, for one still believe in Democracy, where Hard Work and Education will give people of all Races and Socio-economic backgrounds an equal chance to be successful in AMERICA.

Some people will take advantage of their opportunities and some will not.

NOTE TO SCHOOL BOARD:

Your Job is to Educate our Children, you need to stay out of the business of Social Engineering.

Socialism and Communism have and will continue to fail around the world,,,,,,,

God Bless America!!!!!!

Bruce/Jennifer,

What are the results of the Emergency 1:00 BOE meeting today?

GSO Mom, Good post. Your statement re; why can't everybody live together smacks of Grier-speak however. It would be nice for all people everywhere to live together in peace and harmony. This of course is not the case and never has been in ANY governmental system throughout all recoreded human history since ancient Babylonia and Egypt. Some people always had bigger pyramids ALWAYS. There is always a Palm Beach. ALWAYS!!! REASON-human nature and...property values. Dot Kearns has pocketed thousands of dollars in premium real estate commisions because of selling homes on Rotary Drive instead of English Rd. because of exclusivity. The only way you could accomplish what you were wishing for is to FORCE people to live somewhere. The trouble is #1 america is a free society and #2 you can't force the rich in any society to do anything, because they are rich, they have POWER.

Hypocrites like Dot Kearns or Terry Grier will espouse the ideas you hinted at, but it's to get votes and curry favor with the electorate or other puddin'-headed politicians who also are trying to curry favor with electorates. Dot Kearns is well aware she can't force people who live in Emerywood who have left Central to go to private school to stay, which is why she had to go looking somewhere else for albeit less wealthy kids whoM she thought she could force into solving her problem. The 1999 re-districting in High Point chopped kids out of SW and sent them to another school for the same old reason. Again, some people moved, some went private and some went to the new school. That school is, up until recently, considered worse than it ever was. You can never solve this problem by force, NEVER, but they will keep doing it over and over because it's their vote gig, AND THEY CAN, until people say enough! Where do they go when all children of means have been completely purged from the system? To other counties? To Kernersville? Of couse by that time maybe Dot won't need any more votes, but don't count on it. IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH!!!

You can't force people to conform to your political views unless you're prepared to use concentration camps and history shows their success is limited. LET'S GET RID OF THE PIE IN THE SKY, THE BULL CRAP STATISTICS THAT SHOW THIS AND THAT, WE AIN'T BUYIN'!!!! AND EDUCATE THE KIDS!

There was also an interesting article in todays news and record that made a correlation between getting enough sleep and academic success.

Unfortunately, in many cases, low-income families and lack of appropriate rest go hand in hand. I don't know why, but if you'll check with emergency responders, they will tell you that in many of our lowest income housing areas, the middle of the night is very active among all ages. One of the most disturbing things that my husband has witnessed is pulling up to a neighborhood in the middle of the night and seeing little children playing and riding around on tricycles like it was a sunny afternoon instead of 2 in the morning.

I don't understand how children being sent to different schools or providing wireless internet will address real issues.

I am the first to say we need to help those who aren't as fortunate by providing resources, community support, etc. but where does personal responsability come in to play? There are some low income people who desire a better life and there are others who don't.

With that being said, the same holds true for high income families. Some do what it takes to make sure their children are ready for school (adequate rests, respect for authority, time management skills, etc.)and others choose not to do these things.

Most things in life still boil down to personal choices.

What a surprise! Another article on socioECONOMIC diversity. Another new audience to peddle the message to.

And another surprise! No one from the City of High Point attends. Where is that new Ward 6 person who said she cared about schools?!? Guess they weren't talking about furniture market parking at Simeon Stadium. Maybe they are still mad the schools won't give them the red light money that the schools need.

For every study that shows social engineering works, you can find one that states it does not.

Be ready everyone, I am sure the usual N & R editorial will follow soon. Same old song.

General congratulations on your promotion!

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

Well said Kay.

Just what we need more lap tops to disappear like the ones that mysteriously disappeared at Central.

It is a matter of PERSONAL CHOICES.

There are poor kids who never rest. There are kids more more means who are in every activity, sport, always eat fast food on the run and are pressured constantly to compete. They need their rest too.

It all gets down to the parents and parental involvement or lack thereof.

Quest,

Sorry I took so long to respond. I've been working on the BOE story and some other stuff. We did put a short story online about 4 p.m. that the board reversed its decision on Northern. The board voted 5-2 to accept the bids.

The project is still over budget and the status of minority business representation hasn't changed.

Anita Sharpe was the swing vote. She voted no on Tuesday but changed her mind Friday after talking with some general contractors in the area (not involved in this project.) They basically said go with the bids you've got now,
because prices are just gonna keep climbing.

That doesn't bode well for the district, since only about half of the projects have been bid so far.

She had also gotten answers to some questions, including why one subcontractor had two very different bid prices under different general contractors. Apparently they hadn't adjusted the price before the sealed bids were sent to the school system. The bid runner made a notation on the sealed envelope to increase one of the bids by $1 million, but didn't specify why.
Anita, who works for a construction firm, said the explanation satisified her. She said she's been a bid runner herself in the past and is familiar with last-minute adjustments.

Deb et al yanks,

Congratulations for your end of town finally getting their new high school.

I would trust Anita's judgment on this. It is always obvious she pays attention to the "numbers" by the questions she often asks.

I don't blame the HP council in the least for not attending the latest Dottywood Jamboree. They've seen the show, ad nauseum, to the point where it's ripping the town apart and taking people who were happy in High Point and turned them into screaming crazies who won't even drive through the town anymore or patronize any downtown HP business. I've owned a business in downtown HP, and I still work there. If I was a business owner in downtown HP now, I'd want to strangle the lady. Why would they want to go listen to it-they're living it!!!

C.Boy,
you know the very same thought crossed my mind. Maybe I am the eternal optimist but Becky and Lisa might be thinking if we have to change this then we dont want to listen to propaganda on it.
One can only hope.

Becky's heard the sales pitch before when the IT Plan was peddled around town in 04 to the city leaders. She knows it quite well and wants "all the High Point schools to be great." Too bad SW is still losing out.

As for Lisa, I am sure Becky filled her in on the game plan.

Looks like the IT show is coming to Greensboro. Line up the Stat Dr. Line up the man from Charlotte who just loved "choice" redistricting. There you have the magic formula. All the experts to say this is great. Past experienced people to carry it out.

THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES.

The News & Record had an editorial well worth reading today on Gangs in our school.

The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that there IS a problem before it escalates.

I hope all you bloggers will take time to click on to today's editorial.

Please e-mail and call your school board reps if you know of any particular problems in your schools. We are still hearing about many fights at various schools. Are these gang oriented? or your every day normal squabbles?

Letters to the editor are also very helpful in recognizing any problem areas and bring them the fore.

AS far as I know, the new Ward 6 City Council position will be filled in Dec. Becky Smothers said that she would consider placing her on this month since she had such broad support. I doubt she got an invite.

Superintendent Terry Grier and board member Dot Kearns said this shows the need for socio-economically diverse schools, which certainly has been a controversial subject.

Guess that means all Guilford County Schools are going be socio-economically balanced!!!!!

I cannot wait until they start busing the entire county that's how it should be!

Anyone care to comment besides Grier and Dot?

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mayor Smothers for having a personal interest in the crumbling of Simeon Stadium and NO interest in the crumbling of education in the High Point schools.

I would also like to thank Dot Kearns for continuing to support "her" constituents. Wait, are not Dot's constituents all Guilford County students.

Is Dot Kearns an at-large school board member?

Serious question: If Dot is an at-large representative then why does she think only High Point children should be bused for diversity? Should she not be doing that for all of Guilford County Schools?

One more thing, didn't Grier say the High Point plan was not his idea?

Has Grier warmed up the idea? Will his plan be the - The Guilford County Plan?

Hey Bruce and Jen,

could you please post the bit about Dot making the "all-state team".

thanks,

I'm sure Ms. Stahlmann, the newly elected Ward 6 rep. for High Poin, wasn't able to make the education meeting last week because she is a very busy person.

She does have to pick her son up everyday from private school in Greensboro. I think public schools are not much of a concern for her.

Here it is, A Fan. This ran in the Inside Scoop column of today's News & Record:

An all-state effort

Guilford County Board of Education members had a surprise for one of their own Tuesday night.

After presenting three awards, board Chairman Alan Duncan said he had a fourth that wasn’t on the agenda. He said that board member Dot Kearns had been named a 2005 All-State board member by the North Carolina School Boards Association.

She will receive her award Tuesday at the association’s annual conference at the Koury Convention Center.

Kearns, who has been on the Guilford board since its 1992 formation, is one of eight board members statewide to be recognized.

Little Birdy,

Thank you for that tweet tip. It is obvious that people in office who don't have their children in public schools must not believe in public schools.
There are exceptions for special need children who have not gotten what they needed from public schools.

I would like to think that school board members would have their kids in public schools. A city council member who goes private could care less.

Big and Tweety I heard that Mrs Stahlmann has an 8th grader in SW middle.

On second thought, maybe it would be like tossing meat to den of hungry wolves

Anotherbird,

Ms. Stahlmann's other child has only been in public for his 3 years at SWM. He was private before that and I'll just stay perched here and watch how fast he is sent right BACK to private school once he gets his High Point High School lottery ticket. Stahlmann has NO plans to make ANY changes in the status of High Point schools. She has made it perfectly clear what she'll do with her own child. I'll fall out of my little birdy nest should her child end up in any High Point High School as a 9th grader.

Ms. Stahlmann has been very careful NOT to verbalize her plans for her son. In fact she's very careful NOT to verbalize too much about schools at all. She has been quoted as saying she didn't "want to step on any toes of the current council members".

Since Bernita Sims seems to be the most vocal about her love for the choice plan, I just assume that she speaks for the entire High Point City Council. It's a shame that they cannot come out with a united opinion on the condition of the High Point schools. Until the Mayor gets a backbone and makes some sort of a statement, I must believe that Bernita speaks for all.

The only good thing about selecting Dot to the all-star team is this proves there are people out there with a sicker sense of humor than the people who frequent these blogs.

Dotty wins an award? for what?--for a record number of years of screwing with kids? making the Guiness Book for the most hours of non-stop yammering on in school board history? for what? Is this just another "feel good" award so Terry has something to put in his Friday notes?

So now that she's on this "All-State" Board, does that means she's leaving? Oh please say yes, that she gets to now go serve 100 terms for some other very needy school system...??? Please, any glimmer of hope that she's outta here? I would award her with anything to get rid of her. Maybe that's the board's intentions?

One can dream ya know.

One can only speculate as to what some of the OTHER eight members of the "all-state team" have done for their school districts. Wait, I don't want to know.

I think Day-Dreamer has made some excellent points. Why should we in guilford co. simply horde a treasure like Dot Kearns all to ourselves? How could we be so selfish? She needs to maybe move on to the state level. I know people don't want to see her go, but come on- all North Carolinians need her!!!

Interesting note, C.Boy: Dot actually ran for the N.C. Senate in 1994. She won the Democratic nomination in District 32, but lost to former state legislator Thomas Sawyer in the general election. Both sought to fill the seat left vacant by longtime legislator Mary Seymour.

(As an unrelated side note, if he didn't use Rush's "Tom Sawyer" as his campaign theme song, he missed out on a golden opportunity.)

Bruce,

That's an interesting little tid-bit about our Auntie Dotty. I didn't live here in 1994 (I'm not sure why the heck I'm here now) so I wouldn't have known that. Dotty does have a lot to offer. I would like to see her move on to achieve some of her more lofty, more grandiose, and possibly delusional, goals.

Daydreamer and Candy Boy (he's so sweet) are absolutely right. Let's offer up our own Auntie Dotty to the rest of the world. (Isn't there some "All-Star" WORLD School Board seat that is vacant? Really, let's do the right thing. We have been very, very selfish by not sharing her wisdom, especially her 'school of hard-knocks' wisdom that she has gained over these many, many, many, MANY years of her life. Especially her capacity to somehow understand the "underpinnings" of the entire African-American race.

Let's do it Guilford county! I know it would be a huge sacrifice on our part. But Dotty's work here is done. Now be off with her!

GET HER OUTTA HERE!

I say, let's revive Dot's Senate aspirations right now!!! She probably didn't quite have the support before. But now, with Skippy's help like in the last schoolboard election, plus that of the re-activated ABC organization, along with hundreds of campaign workers and contributors drawn from the ranks of all the "rich" people in Jamestown and N. High Point, she could be a force!!!!

LET'S GET IT STARTED IN HERE!!!!!DOT FOR SENATE,
VIVA LA DOTAAAAY!!!!!!

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